According to one transport device that can form a continuous work floor (work plane) on which a worker rides to perform work while transporting transport vehicles carrying articles along a transport path, front and back transport vehicles (1 and 1) are coupled together by vehicle coupling units (vehicle coupling means (9), coupling start means (10), and decoupling means (11)) and are transported at a constant speed by a pushing drive means (5A) in a straight work line (pushing run section (3)) where the ends of the transport vehicles (1) are in abutment with each other to form a continuous work floor, and the transport vehicle (1) having exited out of the work line is decoupled and transported at a higher speed by a high-speed drive means (5C) in a return line (high speed run section (4)) for returning the transport vehicle (1) having exited out of the work line to the entrance of the work line (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
According to another transport device, the transport vehicles (movable bodies (10)) are coupled together by a coupling unit (30) at the front and back parts opposed to each other so as to be capable of relative rotation in the lateral direction, a train-like endless continuous body (90) is formed from a transport vehicle group (moving body (10) group) and a coupling unit (30) group, and the endless continuous body (90) is driven by a feed unit (50) (for example, refer to Patent Document 2).
According to still another transport device, transport vehicles (pallets (2)) are divided into a plurality of sections relative to the transport direction, the divided transport vehicles (divided pallets (2A, 2B, and 2C)) are movably coupled together in a horizontal plane, and the transport vehicles are transported in a free flow system in which, when the following transport vehicle abuts with the preceding transport vehicle, the following transport vehicle pushes the preceding transport vehicle (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).
According to still another transport device, each of the transport vehicles (1) is composed of one or more vehicle bodies (1A and 1B) and coupled vehicle bodies (2A and 2B) that are positioned at the front or back side of the vehicle bodies (1A and 1B) in the transport direction and are coupled to the vehicle bodies (1A and 1B) so as to be capable of relative rotation around a vertical axis, the upper surfaces of the vehicle bodies (1A and 1B) and the upper surfaces of the coupled vehicle bodies (2A and 2B) are flush with each other, a coupling means (C) is provided to couple the transport vehicles (1 and 1) positioned at the front and back sides in the transport direction, the plurality of transport vehicles (1, 1, . . . ) is coupled by the coupling means (C) and is arranged as a transport vehicle group (A) in a transport path including a curved path (C1), a work line (L1) for performing parts assembly work while transporting the transport vehicle group (A) at a constant speed is formed with a work floor (B) composed of the upper surfaces of the vehicle bodies (1A and 1B) and the coupled vehicle bodies (2A and 2B), a return line (L2) is provided such that the transport vehicle (1) at the front end of the transport vehicle group (A) in the transport direction is separated and transported at a high speed and is coupled to the back end of the transport vehicle group (A), and an article (W) is unloaded from the single transport vehicle (1) separated from the transport vehicle group (A) and a new article (W) is loaded onto the same on the return line (L2) (for example, refer to Patent Document 4.).
According to one wafer transport device that transports silicon wafers on a semiconductor production line, a liquid drive source (6) induces a flow of pure water (4) in a constant direction in a fluid path (5) as a circulation flow path, a float (3) carrying a wafer carrier (2) storing silicon wafers (1, 1, . . . ) and floating on the pure water (4) is moved by the flow along the fluid path (5), the float (3) is stopped by float stoppers (7a and 7b) in the vicinity of manufacturing devices (9a and 9b), and the wafer carrier (2) is transferred from the float (3) to the manufacturing devices (9a and 9b) and is transferred from the manufacturing devices (9a and 9b) to the float (3) by manipulators (8a and 8b) (for example, refer to Patent Document 5).